


The Fool

by TevinterPariah



Series: Seblos One-Shots [2]
Category: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Compliant, Canon Era, Character Study, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gay Disaster Carlos, Gay Panic, I Will Go Down With This Ship, Insecurity, Introspection, Light Angst, M/M, Pre-Canon, Seblos, Short Circuiting Carlos, Tyrus walked so Seblos could sprint, Would die for either one of my sons, hsmtmts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-09
Updated: 2019-12-09
Packaged: 2021-02-25 20:54:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21731788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TevinterPariah/pseuds/TevinterPariah
Summary: “It’s my fault. I’m the fool who thought he’d actually dance in public with me.”Just your usual 2 am Carlos introspective fic about his relationship with Seb leading up to & during Homecoming
Relationships: Carlos/Seb Matthew-Smith, Seb Matthew-Smith/Carlos Rodriguez
Series: Seblos One-Shots [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1576519
Comments: 2
Kudos: 71





	The Fool

**Author's Note:**

> In case you were wondering, Carlos is my spirit animal to the point that his relationship with Miss Jenn is a carbon copy recreation of being Stage Manager at my high school. I love and will protect him and Seb with my life because they are too good for this world.
> 
> Also, Tyrus walked so Seblos could sprint.

“It’s my fault. I’m the fool who thought he’d actually dance in public with me.”

* * *

He honestly had expected Seb to be different, but that’s what he deserved for trying. For once in his life, he thought he finally found someone he truly connected to. He clicked with Miss Jenn who was something in between a creative soulmate and an artistic mother figure, but that was different. He was always close with his theater teachers, they were the only ones who truly understood him and took the time to listen to his outrageous ideas and give him the means to make them a reality, but they were mentors, not “friends under 35” as Mr. Mazzarra put it.

Carlos never fit in at East High, and he honestly wasn’t quite sure why. He knew some people only saw him as the walking-talking flamboyant theatre kid stereotype, which wasn’t exactly the reputation anyone living in the greater Salt Lake City area would want. He wasn’t just defined by his passion for theater, but even then his fellow thespians didn’t understand. They would use him for his connection as the theatre teacher’s pet in the rehearsal space, but the second he walked outside the doors he was a nobody. He was just a depressed queer kid who would spend all his lunches in the library, reading up on Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, and watching videos of the latest in modern choreography from his favorite dance companies. It was a lonely life, but it was his, and it was all he expected for himself until he got out of this dump and found his way to Julliard, Carnegie Mellon or UCLA. Anywhere but here, where he would finally belong.

He was thankful for Miss Jenn and all her work in helping the cast and crew of High School Musical to bond, a luxury he was not used to. He thought that as the student choreographer they’d teach him like an authority figure and not as a peer like it always was. But Miss Jenn helped him form those friendships beyond the bomb shelter. He was slowly getting close with Gina, who respected his artistic vision and had ample experience to bring her own choreography to the table and to help him create stronger dance breaks. Ashlyn was a total sweetheart with a heart as beautiful as her belts, which he didn’t expect from the cousin of the department’s biggest fuckboi. Even Ricky, the wild card had surprised him in going from a total joke to a halfway decent dancer in such a short time span, with his effort and dedication. They were all great people, but then there was Seb.

* * *

Seb Matthew-Smith was the biggest surprise of them all. When that rural Utahn farm boy walked into the audition room last year, he didn’t expect much. He was born and raised on a farm, what could he possibly know about musical theatre? Boy, was he wrong? Seb had the beauty of Neil Patrick Harris, the softness of Reeve Carney, the movement skills or Fred Astaire, and the voice of an angel wrapped all in one. He has always thought him to be his own in the flesh Ryan Evans, with a tad less of the fashion sense, but he was not complaining if he was gonna be his Sharpay.

Last year’s production of _Brigadoon_ was interesting, to say the least with Seb playing Archie Beacon, his character Harry’s father. He was the assistant choreographer, which already distanced them, but their dynamic certainly would have made a showmance awkward as hell. Not that Seb probably would have been interested at all, he didn’t even know if Seb knew who he was sometimes.

But recently, all of that changed, with private dance lessons, lunchtime rendezvous, and their messages. Sure it had mainly just been about the show, but this was different. Carlos could tell every time Seb’s eyes light up when he would explain the significance of a sashay instead of a box step at certain moments in ‘What I’ve Been Looking For’ he felt truly heard for the first time by one of his peers. Seb would hang onto his every word and then flawlessly perform his choreography for him, which was a gift in and of itself. Their dance rehearsals together, which were becoming more frequent when Ryan’s actor had been out with the flu, soon turned into lunchtime chats about their favorite dancers, Broadway shows, and future aspirations. For once in his life, he had someone he looked forward to talking to at lunch every day he got the chance to because no offense Sutton Foster, but Seb was a lot more enchanting.

He wasn’t sure if Seb knew he was queer, he knew half the school if not more knew, but what about this big, innocent farm boy? With the stolen glances, close contact during dances, and near inseparability, he had to know right? Heck, he didn’t know if Seb was queer or just the softest and most pure boy in the world or both.

* * *

He finally got up the nerve after weeks of planning to ask Seb, the day of homecoming. Ashlyn tried to coach him for days on how to ask this boy out, but it was intimidating as hell. While the two were thick as thieves behind closed doors at rehearsal, they weren’t as physically and outwardly close outside of them. He was sure Seb was ashamed of him. Why would I guy like him hang out with the school’s favorite outcast queer? And why would he let anyone know about it? It was practically social suicide. But it wasn’t, and after they danced to ‘Bop to the Top’ earlier that morning, their bodies intertwined as they whirled to the music, fumbling a bit along the way, but laughing the whole time he was positive, there was something there and he just had to take a chance. When he asked and Seb was hesitant at first and asked him about dancing in front of non-theater people, his heart stopped. He was ready to throw in the towel and accept that Seb would never want to be seen with someone like him, outside their private dance lessons, but when Seb asked him what he was wearing, all doubts melted away. He was finally going to have his first real date with his first big crush since God knows when. Besides, the fact that he left school early to go get ready and make sure he planned the perfect ensemble was totally valid.

But then after the getting ready, the line rehearsing, the dance practice in his room by himself, and everything else Seb wasn’t there. His hopes crushed in the span of seconds, which slowly turned to minutes, and then to hours. Everyone else was enjoying time with their dates and dancing the night away and he was sad at the table, waiting for his prince to come. Ashlyn at least offered comfort when she wasn’t out spending time with her other friends, but it didn’t fill the void.

Seb really stood him up like that, no context, no nothing. He couldn’t imagine what he did wrong until he found himself confiding in Mr. Mazzarra, the East High teacher who hated his guts. He was the fool, he never should have believed in fairy tales and wishes and that Seb would come to charm and sweep him off his feet, with those deep eyes, soft smile, and wholesome laugh. He was an outsider his whole life and he never had friends or anyone who understood him, how could he expect a guy like Seb to like him, let alone go on a date with him.

Mr. Mazzarra in one of his few good moments complimented his dancing ability and encouraged him to put himself out there and dance with himself and for himself, to have the night of his life. Date or not, he decided to do it and slowly as Ashlyn and other students joined the fray he was able to become the life of the party, and almost forgot about the blonde who broke his heart. Almost.

In the heat of the moment, once the upbeat pop song he owned the dance floor on subsided and the slow dance started, it hit him again. He was alone again in a sea of couples, will-they’s and won’t-they’s, and friends, without someone to call his own. And then, he walked in.

He couldn’t be upset with Seb who looked incredibly sharp in his suit and matching bow tie. He was enchanted, but still had to keep up his guard. Seb told him they had lost one of the family cows and there was no reception on the barn, meaning he couldn’t get the message out. All Carlos could think was what a fool he was to think that this pure soul would ever do anything to harm him. Even after a family death and arriving three hours late, Seb came to dance with Carlos and came only for Carlos, and that was enough.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading my trash 2 am introspection content that I wrote when I should have been sleeping for finals, and instead decided to write a cathartic fic about my son.


End file.
